‘Bringing JK Bank Under RTI Will Promote Transparency’

SRINAGAR — Hailing the decision of the government to bring Jammu and Kashmir Bank within the ambit of RTI, retired High Court Judge, Justice Hasnain Masoodi, on Saturday said that extension of RTI to J&K Bank will “pro­mote transparency” in the top financial institution of the state.

Justice (Rtd) Masoodi said, “Till now we had no right to know any­thing about the working of the bank but as the government has brought the Bank within the am­bit of RTI, the people now have a right to know about the non per­forming accounts through which defaulters have taken 1,000 crore loans. The application of RTI will help promote transparency.”

Saying that people from out­side Jammu and Kashmir have taken huge loans from the bank and are not repaying them, Jus­tice (Rtd) Masoodi said, “Recov­ery teams beat drums at the doors of locals who take small loans but no recovery campaign is launched against the people in other states of the country who have taken huge loans from the bank without any mortgage or third party guarantee. When it comes to the sanction of loan for a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, the Bank seeks every guarantee including the land mortgage for small loans.”

Raising questions on the re­cruitment procedure, Justice Masoodi said, “Against 350 sanctioned vacancies, the bank recently appointed 2500 candi­dates including the 589 candi­dates who were appointed on the directions of Governor Satya Pal Malik. During the last three years, more than 2000 bank­ing associates were appointed through backdoor without fol­lowing the proper procedure.”

“ By making RTI applicable to Jammu and Kashmir Bank, the candidates and the gen­eral public will have the right to know about the process of recruitments and selections in the bank. Till now the Jammu and Kashmir Bank was not sub­ject to judicial review but now it is subject to judicial review after being brought into the ambit of RTI.”

Govt Has Eroded JK Bank’s Autonomy, Say, Legal Experts,

The autonomy of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank has eroded after it was declared a public sector undertaking by the government, legal experts said on Saturday. Top constitu­tional experts said that Jammu and Kashmir Bank after its dec­laration as a public sector bank is now “fully in the administra­tive and financial control of the government and the authority of the bank chairman has been reduced to that of the manag­ing director of a public sector corporation.”

However, he said that a “popular government, if put in place, has the powers to roll back such orders by a simple cabinet decision.”

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Leading constitutional expert and senior advocate of High Court Zaffar Ahmad Shah said, “The Jammu and Kashmir Bank after its declaration as a public sector bank by Governor Satya Pal Malik has now come under the com­plete administrative and financial control of the government. The chairman of the bank is now like managing director of any public sector corporation of the state government and the government has power and authority to nomi­nate members for the board of di­rectors, the highest decision mak­ing body of the bank.”

Echoing the words of Zafar Ahmad Shah, another leading constitutional expert Zaffar Qureshi said, “Independence of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank has been taken away after the Governor declared it a Public Sector Bank. Now the govern­ment has the power and au­thority to nominate members for the board of directors for Jammu and Kashmir Bank and can intervene even in the lend­ing and buying matters. The position of the chairman of the bank has been almost reduced to the extent of a managing di­rector of a public sector corpo­ration.”

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